The English language is a flexible tool. It has more words than any other language, more different words that mean the very same thing, and more same words that mean the very opposite thing.

Go fast means move quickly, hold fast means be still. Bad is good. Well done just ruined your sirloin. You kill your job interview unless you bomb. But if you’re the bomb, that’s the best. The loser now will be later to win. Yes, the times are changing.

Take hack. A chef carves the turkey suggesting precision and care while the prep cook hacks the chicken carcass for soup. A hack writer is the worst. A hack hockey player makes up for a dearth of skill with chippy play. A hacker is unskilled, a cheat, one who takes the lazy and easy way out. What a hack, the guy’s a hacker, you’re a hack. There is not a positive interpretation to be had.

Until there is.

Today, a hacker is young, smart, innovative and capable of overcoming any obstacle in pursuit of success. A hack is a legitimate, respectable and honest way to address a challenge. In the relentless pursuit of betterment, you can now hack your job, hack a date, hell even hack your life.